


Princeling

by geekns



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Miscarriage, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, R2 is a faithful pet, Young Ben Solo, all the feels, youngling ben
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2018-12-30 05:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12101499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekns/pseuds/geekns
Summary: Prompted byJaemiluna's Little Princefanart with caption: "okay but can we imagine tiny unproblematic baby Ben" which launched me into a new headcanon about why R2 was deactivated during TFA.





	1. Tinyling

~~~~It had been an exciting day. The entire household had been in upheaval since before dawn and long into the evening. It was in his programming to want to assist but he had known that the matter was beyond his programming. It hadn't seemed advisable to remain in chaotic close quarters while ceramic figurines were shattering and the attention of an untrained Force-sensitive could be turned against him were he to become her new focus. His companion hadn't had the same sense of self-preservation, but he had pushed his fellow droid out of the room just the same.  
  
R2- ~~D2~~ was predisposed to be overlooked and unwanted until he was required, waiting long hours if necessary for an opportunity to investigate. Since his upgrade for self-sustained-energy-regeneration he did not need to plug in or shut down to recharge as a rule, so he often wandered at night. One of the things that he had certainly honed after decades in ~~C~~ -3PO's nearly constant company was patience. Which did not lessen his curiosity or anticipation, merely perfected his precision and efficiency. He often had time to consider a new mission, analyze exactly which mission parameters were most critical, and anticipate which complications might arise. Though he actually excelled at intuiting unusual solutions to unexpected contingencies... for a droid.  
  
As soon as 3PO shut down his charge station for the evening in R2 was off, rolling mostly-silently down dark corridors, past the rooms, kitchens, dining room, and lounge to the master suite. The door was programmed to open automatically for R2 and slid open silently. The doctor was absent now, her droid with her. R2 allowed himself to feel frustrated that a strange droid had been allowed to witness this momentous event while he had not. The room was now in sleep-mode, which was what R2 had anticipated. He continued forward.

He regretted that he could not perform self-maintenance, his wheels seemed overloud in the stillness of the dimly lit room. R2 didn't allow himself so much as a hum as he rolled toward the bed. He eased to a halt, periscope elongating to provide him a better view of its occupants. The-Princess- ~~Leia-Amidala-Organa~~ was fast asleep, hair spread out on her pillow like a halo. Captain- ~~Han~~ - ~~Organa~~ -Solo was equally unconscious, his arm wrapped around her waist, body pressed to her side.  
  
R2 did not detect the long-familiar rhythm of the new-master-designation-pending's heartbeat. Its absence was jarring after months of careful monitoring. His life-form scanner lifted and rotated, sensors extending their range... silence. He rolled closer to the nearby incubator, close enough to tap against it. It was empty.  
  
R2 hummed, worried. Had the tiny master died? Had he been stolen? He knew little of neonate humans but doubted that anything small enough to come out of the The-Princess' reproduction receptacle could have wandered far. He had not anticipated this eventuality. He was just about to raise an alarm when he sensed a familiar pitter-patter.  
  
R2 turned to discover ~~Jedi~~ -Master-Luke- ~~Amidala-Skywalker~~ was pacing on the balcony, a small cloth bundle clutched to his chest. R2 retracted his periscope and scanner as he rotated to begin his journey around the bed, across the room, and outside. The rooms here on Naboo were far more spacious than on the Millenium Falcon or a typical rebel base, closer to the conditions of Cloud City. It took time for R2 to get around, especially while trying to be quiet.  
  
Master-Luke was sitting down by the time R2 reached the balcony, leaning down over his little bundle. R2 rolled forward with more urgency, relieved to clearly detect the familiar heartbeat of the new-master. R2 clicked to a halt before his current master.  
  
“Hello R2,” Master-Luke greeted quietly. The bundle was moving. A little hand was moving back and forth through the balmy air, the blanket fell open, and Luke adjusted his hold so that R2 could see the new-master's face. It was red and scrunched up and his ears stuck out majestically compared to most humans. His head was covered with a dark fuzz that looked soft and delicate. His plump lips were screwed up in a tiny pucker. R2 whirred in appreciation:  
  
*Small* he hummed. Though in truth the human was larger than he had estimated it would be, it was still quite tiny. He wanted to ask its designation but did not dare make more noise.  
  
"His name is Ben," Luke pronounced softly.  
  
_Master-Ben-Amidala-Organa-Solo_ , R2 considered. The designation Master-Ben was already assigned as the designation of Jedi-Master-Obi-Wan-Kenobi, commonly computed as ~~Jedi~~ -Master- ~~Obi-Wan~~ -Ben- ~~Kenobi~~. R2's mind took only a nanosecond to reassess. _Prince-Ben._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been watching Star Wars for nearly as long as i can remember and writing fanfic for nearly twenty years and amazingly this is my first Star Wars fic. I've been reading a lot of it lately but must admit that i'm not 100% sure of all the lingo (where did kriff come from for instance?).


	2. Nursling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newborn Ben starts to grow up a little bit. His extended family adapts to caring for him.

R2- ~~D2~~ spent the next six months spending every non-tasked moment by Prince-Ben- ~~Amidala-Organa-Solo~~ 's side. He monitored the nursling's heartbeat, breathing, feeding-schedule, waste-dumping, and development. The amazing thing about Prince-Ben was that he never cried. Ever. Even R2 knew that this was unheard of for nurslings. But The-Princess- ~~Leia-Amidala-Organa~~ always seemed to know when Prince-Ben needed feeding, or when to tell Captain- ~~Han~~ - ~~Organa~~ -Solo to change his waste-receptacle, or when he was tired and needed to recharge.

Prince-Ben spent a lot of time recharging.

But R2 was patient and would wait for him to wake up. He liked to interact with Prince-Ben. At first, the tiny human had not even seemed to register his presence, let alone acknowledge it (other than a tiny wiggle if he chirped), but as the weeks passed R2 could detect the nursling's eyes strengthening and awareness extending further than his incubator or the arms of whichever human held him. Prince-Ben started waving his arms whenever he heard or saw R2. The most rewarding memory R2 had was the first day Prince-Ben had smiled at him.

Waving-arms meant want-to-be-picked-up, but not even ~~C~~ -3PO was allowed to pick up Prince-Ben. R2 had other ways of amusing the nursling, would send up his life-form-scanner spinning, or talk about nonsense for hours, or bleep bad words. That was Prince-Ben's favorite sound, R2's bleeping would make him laugh as if he was being wiggle-poked.

R2 wasn't sure why everyone liked wiggle-poking Prince-Ben so much, but Prince-Ben always laughed in response. Captain-Solo would use his entire hand, fingers arched like a spider, and send his son into fits of laughter. The first time The-Princess had threatened to eat Prince-Ben (and even bent down to press her mouth to his bellybutton), R2 had almost zapped The-Princess. But instead of eating her son, The-Princess had made a very rude noise instead, and Prince-Ben had thought that was funniest of all.

It wasn't all giggles and bleeping though. Prince-Ben really did spend most of his time sleeping. Whenever he started yawning R2 would project navigational-charts on the ceiling and try to sing something soothing. R2 was a terrible singer but Prince-Ben seemed to appreciate his efforts. The-Princess would brush her fingertips across Prince-Ben's forehead, playing with her son's dark curls.    

For a long time, The-Princess had been annoyed with R2, always ordering him out of the room and asking why he was always underfoot, but R2 could never bring himself to stay away for long. Sometimes, when he was feeling very bold, R2 would extend his scomp-link, and Prince-Ben would grab hold. That was R2's favorite feeling.

 

 

Prince-Ben was strong despite his tiny size and as stubborn as his grandfather. He preferred lying on his stomach and would flip over if The-Princess laid him down on his back after he was only a couple of months old. He was always trying to grab things and study them. He was very curious.

Prince-Ben started crawling early for his age and was soon pulling himself up. The first time he tried to climb out of his incubator The-Princess had barely caught him before he had fallen to the floor. After that, the incubator was kept in its lowered position, which suited R2 nicely as it gave him a better view of Prince-Ben. The pillows arranged on the floor around the incubator were slightly problematic if he wasn't careful, but he was still close enough for Prince-Ben to hold his scomp-link.

He started buzzing Prince-Ben very weakly with his electro-magnetic-arm whenever the nursling tried to climb out of his incubator. Until one day a couple of months later when Prince-Ben managed to lower himself to the floor and crawl across the room to his mother while she was conversing with a member of the New-Senate via hologram while R2 was negotiating with the refrigerator unit to consistently keep the proper temperature. After that, R2 allowed Prince-Ben to climb out of his incubator but would follow his explorations.

 

 

Prince-Ben was a very active crawlling. He liked to scoot around the lounge on his bum or knees and pull up on the sofa or coffee-table. He pulled down anything in reach, pillows, datapads, anything. Most of these items went in his mouth, as well, which R2 had initially been disgusted by but soon grew used to. He was even used to Prince-Ben trying to mouth his scomp-link.

Most of the fragile items were kept out of reach. Prince-Ben had toys that took up most of his attention, a stuffed Wookie and a soft vinyl astromech teething-toy that resembled R2 being his favorites. He was quite fond of his father's friend ~~Chewbacca~~ -Chewie. Chewie would carry the nursling on his shoulders or make him fly through the air. Prince-Ben was not afraid of heights and would squeal with glee. R2 thought Prince-Ben was cutest when he tried to roar like a Wookie did.

Prince-Ben babbled a great deal and tended to get what he wanted when he wanted. R2 was not fully immune to this but detected unusually high response times from his parents, almost as if they were compelled to fill his every demand. This worried R2. Fortunately, Prince-Ben was usually in his own world and content to play or explore while his parents worked.

 

 

R2 most enjoyed hide-and-seek. Ben had long been fond of peek-a-boo, but now that he was getting more mobile the game had changed somewhat. R2 had used to hide behind objects that could shield him from Ben's view and then come out again. He still did that, but sometimes he would stay hidden and wait for Ben to grow impatient and crawl to his hiding spot. He would reward Prince-Ben with holographs when he found him.

It soon became a usual game of theirs along with Ben pulling himself up and pushing against the droid as they walk-rolled together. R2 had gone very slowly at first but they were soon traveling along together at half-speed. Prince-Ben was very strong and liked going fast. He didn't mind falling down and never cried when he bumped into things. R2 tried to avoid hazards but Prince-Ben seemed to have a knack for finding them and falling into them. R2 had heard The-Princess and Captain-Solo discuss how quiet Prince-Ben was in worried tones. Prince-Ben babbled some but would mostly just quietly stare at whoever was speaking.

 

 

R2 was disappointed but not surprised when Master-Luke- ~~Amidala-Skywalker~~ decided it was time to leave Naboo on a mission to establish a New-Jedi-Order. He was relieved to have a chance to escape 3PO's meddling for a while but would miss Prince-Ben. The-Princess' family all came to the city to send them off, Captain-Solo carrying his son in a harness on his chest. R2 followed Master-Luke obediently but remained aware of all of Prince-Ben's responses to the people around them.

Prince-Ben did not like the city. Being carried in a harness was not the same as flying in Chewie's hands and not the same as being able to crawl wherever he wished. His Dada refused to let him down. There were many bright colors and loud sounds to take in at the spaceport that Prince-Ben was not used to. R2 was used to such things, having to rush to keep up and be aware of all the large aliens and bigger droids that might not be aware of his presence and might knock him over or crush him.

There were many sorts of travelers at the spaceport, aliens that didn't speak Basic, families that were visiting or immigrating to Naboo, Gungans selling hot mollusk balls, a screaming toddler that wanted ice-cream but had been told No. R2 still tended to be frightened by some of the new things he saw while traveling, Prince-Ben took it all in silently. He didn't even make a sound when Master-Luke kissed him on the forehead and R2 chirped goodbye then followed his master up the ramp into their transport to Coruscant.

 

 

R2 always found traveling to be exciting. Unlike 3PO, he liked to see new places and experience new situations. It kept his circuits active. Waiting to reach his destination was usually a quiet time where he observed his surroundings and attempted to learn more about what he would soon be expected to do. Of course, R2 had been to Coruscant many times with ~~Jedi~~ -Master-Anakin- ~~Amidala-Skywalker~~ and ~~Jedi~~ -Master- ~~Obi-Wan~~ -Ben- ~~Kenobi~~.

R2 found that he was more distracted than usual. He had tried to archive his observations on the developmental progress of Prince-Ben- ~~Organa-Solo~~ to free up space for Master-Luke's new endeavor and was instead feeling a bit distracted and droopy. He didn't want to streamline his memories of Prince-Ben. He didn't want to erase a single nanosecond of their time together. He wanted to play with him.  He knew he would have to bring himself to archive the last few months but was resistant to the change in his daily processes.

There was a chime. Master-Luke had been lying down, trying to enter sleep-mode. He sat up slowly, rubbing at the whiskers he was starting to grow. The chime sounded again. Master-Luke reached across the desk next to his bunk and activated a holo-emitter. The sound of a screaming baby filled the air. The-Princess stood before them, 0.4m tall, bouncing a tiny Prince-Ben in her arms.

“Luke, he's _crying_ ,” The-Princess stated obviously. Her voice contained a curious mixture of relief, fatigue, and desperation. Master-Luke plastered a big smile on his face and started cooing at the hologram.

“Hey there little guy, are you being a good boy for mommy?”

Prince-Ben's tiny sobs turned into angry screams, not unlike the toddler at the spaceport.

“He hasn't stopped since you lifted off,” The-Princess informed her brother, petting her son's hair. That was usually the only soothing Prince-Ben required. “He hasn't slept, either.”

“Leia, I know it's difficult, but you need to stay calm for him.” Fresh tears filled The-Princess' eyes. “Has Han had a turn?”

“Yes, but it didn't make any difference, in fact, he was worse. Han's gone to get Chewie, we thought maybe a visit from him would help.” Prince-Ben had maintained his scream throughout his mother's speech quite impressively.

“I know 3PO has never held him, but maybe he could give you a break.” R2 thought this was a terrible idea. 3PO had shown little interest in Prince-Ben and didn't really have a bond with him, nor was he aware enough of the needs of human adults, let alone a little one like Prince-Ben. R2 rolled forward, pressing himself against Master-Luke's knee, and beeped rudely at the holo-imager. Prince-Ben stopped screaming.

*Stop crying Prince-Ben,* R2 beeped and whistled sharply. Prince-Ben's arms reached out toward the hologram before him, but R2 knew that such an attempt to touch light would be ineffectual. He and Master-Luke were in hyperspace and already hundreds of parsecs away. Big tears rolled down his tiny cheeks.

“Ahh,” Prince-Ben petitioned. “Mama, Ahh.”

“He's trying to say 'R',” The-Princess realized, tears now rolling down her cheeks freely. “I didn't realize, he wants R2.” R2 rolled out of the holo-imager's line of sight for a few moments. Prince-Ben gasped. R2 rolled back. Prince-Ben laughed. R2 repeated the peek-a-boo motion. Prince-Ben clapped his hands.  The-Princess clutched Prince-Ben closer to her chest, inexplicably crying harder. R2 hummed worriedly:

*Stop crying The-Princess,* he soothed. *Prince-Ben will be fine. We miss Prince-Ben too.* Luke laid a gloved hand on R2's head. The hologram of Prince-Ben yawned widely, snuggling against his mother. It didn't take long for the young princeling to fall asleep.


	3. Toddling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben starts to learn how to walk and use his Force powers, which has caught the unwanted attention of Snoke. Warning: mentions of miscarriage.

Prince-Ben was walking on his own by the time Master-Luke and R2- ~~D2~~ returned to Naboo. Captain-Solo set his son on the floor and Prince-Ben ran straight to R2. Their nightly good-night holo-calls had kept Master-Luke and the droid fresh in his developing mind.

“Arrr!” Prince-Ben pronounced excitedly, trying to pull himself up onto the droid, fingers ineffectually stretching towards his shoulder-horseshoe. Master-Luke picked the boy up, grinning widely. “Unc-Lu!” Prince-Ben exclaimed. Master-Luke bounced his nephew a few times before tossing the toddling into the air and catching him. Prince-Ben squealed in delight. When Master-Luke stopped tossing and catching, Prince-Ben pulled on Master-Luke's now full beard inquisitively. Master-Luke grimaced and unwrapped tiny fingers from his chin-hairs but did not scold.

R2 followed the humans as they walked and talked together of their experiences during their separation. Prince-Ben watched R2 over Master-Luke's shoulder, brown eyes hungrily taking in the sight of his faithful friend, small hand reaching towards R2 once more. R2 hummed in contentment.

 

 

Before long, Prince-Ben was highly skilled at climbing onto R2's ankle-bracelet by stepping up onto one of his drive-units and holding onto his shoulder-horseshoe to go for a ride. At first, R2 would only hesitantly roll around the nursery or lounge, careful to avoid sharp-edged furniture lest his charge slip and fall. It wasn't a week before the two were zipping around the house scaring ~~C~~ -3PO and the-Princess.

The-Princess had been furious the very first time she discovered their new game and picked up Prince-Ben before yelling at R2 about how dangerous he had been. She had stalked off to the nursery to lay Prince-Ben down for a nap. 3PO had stayed behind to lecture R2 about his duties as a servant of the family and his impropriety breaching social boundaries in this manner before walking off in a huff.

R2 had tentatively rolled into the nursery a short while later. He found Prince-Ben lying in his crib, his stuffed-Wookie hovering in the air over his face. The Wookie bounced high into the air, in an arc across the room and past R2. R2's dome rotated to watch the Wookie fall to the floor behind him. It rotated again to find that Prince-Ben was pulling himself to his feet inside the crib.

The toddling was too short to peer over the rail, so he pulled his face up to the slats instead. R2 was startled to realize that Prince-Ben's eyes looked hauntingly the same as his grandmother's had. R2 missed ~~Queen-~~ Senator-Padme- ~~Amidala-Naberrie-Skywalker~~ with a sharp-edged pang of grief that he did not often allow himself to indulge. Her eyes had been kind and full of wisdom beyond her short years, a deep brown encompassed by more golden rings that inexplicably appeared to be brushed in like paint. Prince-Ben's eyes were surprisingly similar. His right eye seemed to hold a darker pentagon surrounded by that exact same intense gold warmth Senator-Padme's eyes had held.

Prince-Ben stretched an arm out towards his lost toy, fingers extending in a gesture with which R2 was familiar with after decades spent in the company of Jedi. He rotated his dome to see if the Wookie would lift off the floor to sail across the room into Prince-Ben's extended hand. It didn't. Prince-Ben sighed in frustration.

R2 spinned in place, mechanical-grasper-arm extending, to retrieve the soft Wookie toy. He held it aloft before spinning to glide across the room to the crib where Prince-Ben waited silently. R2 held the toy up helpfully:

*Here you go,* R2 chirped politely. Between the two of them, they maneuvered the toy through the slats. Prince-Ben fell back onto his bum, hugging the toy. *Lay down,* R2 beeped somewhat sharply. He did not want Prince-Ben to get into any more trouble. The toddling lay down, Wookie still clutched to his chest. R2 retracted his grasper-arm and extended his universal-computer-interface-arm through a slat, scomp-link spinning invitingly. Prince-Ben grasped the scomp firmly.

The room was still fairly bright, but dim enough in the afternoon light for R2 to project holograms. R2 projected his memories of the Coruscant skyline from Senator-Padme's apartments, pink and orange clouds floating across the sky as a sun crept towards a skyscrapered horizon. Prince-Ben sighed more softly and with contentment as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

 

 

R2 cherished each moment that he found to spend with Prince-Ben during his visit to Naboo. Master-Luke was already talking about visiting another planet, one where the Jedi had once had a temple and academy. His master had yet to decide where to build a new academy but he favored prospective sites that had once been known to be sites of worship of the Force and was compiling a list of planets to visit.

The-Princess was unfortunately keeping R2 very busy, somewhat needlessly so, performing preventative maintenance on many of the computers that ran the house. He had left the house running at peak capacity and no issues had arisen during his absence. R2 was not prone to complaining in the way 3PO was, however, and spent his time performing his duties to perfection before sneaking off to spend as much time with Prince-Ben as possible. He was not slacking as 3PO intimated, however: he had even extended the scan distance of the external-proximity-sensors and optimized the coolant flow of the refrigerator-unit.

Prince-Ben was irritated with R2 for not letting him ride on his leg anymore. If the boy tried to climb onto him he would roll farther away or even beep at him rudely to *Get down!* He didn't see any harm in letting Prince-Ben ride him, despite 3PO's lectures on the subject, but he also didn't want to teach Prince-Ben to disregard his mother's commands. The-Princess was the very top of the command structure here, he had no wish to engender insubordination in an already-stubborn toddling.

R2 would instead project vistas of other worlds for Prince-Ben, or follow him around the small palace, and watch the toddling practice his Force-abilities, cataloging each skill into his databanks. He recognized now that Prince-Ben used the Force to communicate with his parents and uncle, picked up on their feelings, and was starting to levitate and pull things to himself. He had amazing focus for one so young. R2 looked forward to possibly being able to go on some adventures with the young master someday.

 

 

 

Master-Luke had already delayed their departure by a week and was in the City to procure new transport when it happened. The perimeter-sensors picked up movement that suggested intruders were about to invade their home. R2 double-checked that the silent alarm had been activated and returned to the nursery where he had left Prince-Ben.

Prince-Ben had already climbed out of the crib and was crouched in the dark waiting for someone to come. He climbed up on R2's leg without a sound and they zipped off across the house together. Master-Luke had fortunately performed maintenance on R2 fairly recently and they were completely silent as they slid through the darkness. They startled the first hostile they encountered, knocking him over in the dark and allowing R2 to electrocute him with both of his electro-magnetic-power-charge-arms before the man could raise the alarm.

R2 kept both electro-magnetic-arms out as he circumnavigated the unconscious body and continued towards his destination. Prince-Ben's grip on R2 was so sure, his silent focus so intense, that R2 realized that there was no way that the Force would allow Prince-Ben to fall off his perch or come to harm. R2 rolled towards their destination even faster.

R2 had been aiming for the master-suite, hoping to rendezvous with the-Princess or even Captain-Solo. He realized too late that this was a very bad idea. The lounge held three separate hostiles, waiting for them in ambush. A blaster shot flashed out towards them, freezing in midair for a few moments as R2 rolled behind the nearby sofa before being released to crash into the wall behind where R2 had just been.

R2's processors whirred worriedly. Had that been Prince-Ben? He had never seen anyone use the Force to freeze blaster bolts. It had been a very fortunate occurrence as otherwise R2 would have failed to keep young master safe and very well may have been disabled. R2 tried to zap the nearest enemy from their cover behind the sofa but all of their enemies were keeping a healthy distance. R2 hummed worriedly.

Suddenly, Prince-Ben was leaping off of R2 and running back towards where they had just come from. R2 rolled forward around the sofa to electrocute their closest enemy. One enemy was leaping over the sofa in pursuit of Prince-Ben, the other was shooting at R2. His blaster suddenly flew out of his hand across the room, towards where Prince-Ben had fled, and R2 easily electrocuted the now-defenseless enemy.

R2 spun to follow Prince-Ben down the dark hall that he had just come from. Prince-Ben had fled to the kitchen. Their third enemy was standing, an empty hand outstretched, shaking with effort as he gradually reached towards a second blaster at his waist. R2 zapped at the man, but didn't have enough charge to render the man unconscious, merely send him to his knees. The man grabbed his blaster, swinging it around wildly to shoot R2, and was shot by a blaster in the side, going down hard on the floor. Captain-Solo leapt into the room, sliding across a counter to land beside R2 and shoot their enemy again, rendering him unconscious or dead. R2 zapped the man again needlessly.

“Ben!” Captain-Solo whispered loudly, spinning towards the dark room. Ben ran across the tiled floor and into his father's arms. Captain-Solo kissed his son on the top of his head and pressed him to his hip. “R2 follow,” he commanded before dashing down the hall towards the nearby ramp that droids used to descend to the lower level. R2 followed silently.

They traveled through hallways dimly lit by emergency lighting to the shipbay that usually held the shuttle they used to travel to the City. Tucked in the corner under a tarp was also an old N-1 starfighter that ~~Jedi-~~ Master-Anakin ~~-Naberrie-Skywalker~~ used to fly. Captain-Solo yanked the tarp off, ordering: “R2, warm her up.”

R2 rolled over to the appropriate location beneath the ship, which lowered its droid lift to pull him inside. The ship automatically plugged into R2's charge and data ports and started to hum to life. Captain-Solo climbed a nearby ladder to ascend to the cockpit. R2 slid the cockpit open in anticipation, not even pausing in his pre-flight checks, cycling through everything quickly and efficiently. The ship recognized him and signaled its readiness.

Captain-Solo meanwhile had buckled his son into the cockpit and was shutting him inside beneath its transparent windscreen. Prince-Ben started to cry just moments before blaster-fire started to sweep across the room. Captain-Solo fired back, taking at least one hostile out. “R2, you have to take him to Luke!” Captain-Solo yelled across the top of the fighter. “I have to rescue Leia. We'll come find you.”

Captain-Solo kicked the ladder away from the ship and slid across the top of the windscreen and hull before dropping to the floor on the other side. He ran towards the enemy, blaster firing, rolling to avoid their fire. “Go!” Captain-Solo barked.

With Captain-Solo ducked out of the way, R2 used the rear-facing canons to shoot the men who were streaming into the room, stopping just long enough to verify they were subdued before sending the ship forward out of the bay and into the dark night.

There was no moon to light their way as they sped towards the City. Their ship was programmed to take them to the military base that it had once been headquartered at, but R2 negotiated with the flight computer to take them to the civilian port where their shuttle usually docked in the City.

Prince-Ben was still crying, screaming now in frustration. R2 chirped across their shared commlink:

*I'm here Prince-Ben!* he reassured the young master. *All is well.* The ship inexplicably shuddered beneath them.

“Mama!” Prince-Ben screamed. “Want Mama!” R2 adjusted their trajectory as the ship continued to shake and buck beneath them.

*Calm down, Prince-Ben,* R2 scolded. He was starting to worry that the ship wouldn't make it to the City.

“Want Mama!” Prince-Ben repeated. The ship fell a few yards, groaning ominously, and Prince-Ben stopped screaming, gasping in surprise. R2 was already effecting repairs and the ship righted itself, flying through the darkness towards its destination. The shuddering and lurching stopped as Prince-Ben coughed and his sobbing quieted to a hiccuping whimpering.

*Captain-Solo will save the-Princess,* R2 assured the young master. *Stop crying, you are safe.*

But Prince-Ben continued crying silently the entire way to the City, fortunately managing to self-soothe without any more Force-tantrums. R2 brought the ship into port, hovered down to an unoccupied spot, the port authority uselessly yelling at them to identify themselves. R2 used the emergency release for Prince-Ben's harness and opened the cockpit, head spinning to take in the squad of peacekeepers that was forming across the hanger. He had purposely chosen a spot that was as far away from the tower as possible.

*Come to me,* R2 hummed. Prince-Ben was already pulling himself out of the cockpit and sliding across the hull towards him. R2 lifted his dome to open his internal-cargo-compartment for Prince-Ben. The cockpit was only a short distance away from R2. The toddling was still crying as he approached. “In,” R2 commanded with a short chirp. The boy lowered himself inside the compartment, and R2 closed his dome as the ship lowered them both to the tarmac.

R2 rolled away from the men who were running to surround the N-1. He disappeared behind a nearby family shuttle, scanning their surroundings for any familiar ships. The-Millenium-Falcon was not far away, and R2 started to roll towards it, trying to avoid detection but failing.

“Halt!” a voice yelled behind him. R2 slid to a stop, spinning to face the peacekeepers that had followed him from the N-1. “Where is your pilot?!” one barked.

*Stay back,* R2 bleeped, gradually rolling backward. He heard footsteps on the ramp that led up into the Falcon.

“He's my droid, officer,” Master-Luke pronounced. “He isn't the pilot you're looking for.”

“This isn't the pilot we're looking for,” the officer repeated.

“He ran off towards sub-surf-trans,” Master-Luke pronounced.

“The pilot ran towards sub-surf-transit!” the officer barked, his voice calling more men from where they had had the N-1 surrounded. “Follow him!” he ordered. The men ran in unison towards the nearby exit towards the sub-surface-transit station. Master-Luke set a hand on R2's dome.

“Good work, R2,” Master-Luke pronounced. “Let's get inside.” R2 rolled up the Falcon's ramp, dome spinning to continue taking in their surroundings. No one else seemed to be in pursuit. As soon as they were alone inside the-Falcon R2 raised his dome, revealing his internal-cargo-compartment. Prince-Ben stood and Master-Luke lifted his nephew out of the dim cylindrical compartment. “You're so brave, Ben,” Master-Luke comforted, tucking his nephew against his chest.

“Unc-Lu,” Prince-Ben whined. “Want Mama!”

“Uncle Chewie is picking Mama and Papa up in the shuttle right now,” he soothed the boy, leading the way toward the Falcon's living-compartment. “How would you like to get some sleep?”

“NO sleep!” Prince-Ben insisted. “Mama scared!”

“I know,” Master-Luke acknowledged. “I feel it, too,” he spoke softly, strolling onward to the Falcon's cockpit. Master-Luke seated himself in the pilot's chair, flipping some switches on the dash in front of himself. “Skywalker to Chewbacca, I have the package. Repeat, R2 has delivered the package.”

Chewie roared an acknowledgment, then reported that he was approaching his target. Master-Luke closed the channel.

“Where Mama?” Prince-Ben demanded, tugging on Master-Luke's ear.

“Patience, Ben,” Master-Luke pronounced. “Your Papa won't let anything happen to your Mama.” Master-Luke rubbed Prince-Ben's back, and they waited for Chewie to signal back.

An eternity of only a few minutes later Prince-Ben started to quietly cry again.

“Mama happy!” Ben crowed. “Mama safe?” he asked.

“I hope so,” Master-Luke soothed. “Uncle Chewie will let us know.” As if on queue, the comm-panel lit up.

Chewie roared in triumph.

“Luke!” the-Princess yelled over the link. “Chewie tells us you have...you have the package.”

“Affirmative,” Master-Luke responded. “The package is in hand.”

“We're coming to you,” Captain-Solo responded. “Stay safe.”

R2 was used to waiting. Prince-Ben was not. Prince-Ben was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted. Prince-Ben had been fussing for his mother for over an hour. His eyes were drooping, but he was still stubbornly refusing to fall asleep. The outside sky was starting to brighten with the day's first hints of dawn.

Prince-Ben jerked, having momentarily fallen asleep. He started to bite the back of his hand.  Master-Luke took a few minutes to notice.

“Ben, stop,” Master-Luke pulled his nephew's hand out of his mouth, thumb soothing the angry pink teeth marks that had formed.

“Want Mama!” Prince-Ben insisted. Master-Luke carried Prince-Ben back into the living-compartment, opening the refrigerator-unit's freezer and sliding some packages aside.

“Are you hungry?”

“Want Mama!” Prince-Ben repeated. Master-Luke pulled out a familiar astromech teething-toy and handed it to Prince-Ben.

“Well chew on that instead.” Prince-Ben flinged the toy across the room:

“No! Mama!”

R2 hummed sadly. Prince-Ben's eyes were red from crying all night. His little face crumpled.

“Why?!?” Prince-Ben asked. “Ben good boy,” he promised quietly, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “No listen, be good,” he promised.

“What? Listen to who?” Master-Luke asked.

“Night-night,” Prince-Ben whimpered, tucking his face into Master-Luke's bearded neck. “Man say Ben leave Mama, learn Force.” Prince-Ben gripped his uncle tightly. “Ben say no! Stay with Mama.”

“No one will take you away, Ben,” Master-Luke soothed. “R2, can you access the house computer?” R2 rolled over to the nearby computer-access and plugged his scomp link into the familiar Falcon computer. The-Falcon's communication dish rotated and found a satellite to communicate with. R2 negotiated with the house remotely, downloading all recent security footage of the house. Master-Luke poured over the recordings, fast forwarding through night after night.

Every night at around the same time Prince-Ben's sleep became agitated. It was after R2 left the room for the night. It was after the-Princess and Captain-Solo and Master-Luke were all asleep in their own rooms. It was every single night spanning weeks into the past, as long as the security-record went back before being auto-deleted. There was no way to know how long Prince-Ben's dreams had been troubled.

Master-Luke sat down on the-Falcon's long couch, setting his nephew down on the cushions before him. The two humans stared into each others' eyes for long minutes, Prince-Ben flinching occasionally, but no longer crying. Master-Luke sighed eventually, retrieved Prince-Ben's toy with the Force, and wiped away Prince-Ben's tears before giving him the toy back.

R2 turned at the sound of footsteps pounding up the-Falcon's ramp. Master-Luke leapt to his feet, saber instantly ignited and in hand, R2's electro-magnetic-arms extending, as the-Princess burst into the room. She pushed her brother aside to kneel on the deck-plating before her son, taking him into her arms.

"Mama!" Prince-Ben eagerly greeted.

"Everything's going to be okay," the-Princess shushed. "I'm sorry you were so worried, Ben."

“I'm sorry Mama!” Ben murmured. “Bad men take baby?” he asked.

“What?” the-Princess asked.

“Leia, you're bleeding,” Master-Luke noted, deactivated saber falling to the floor, forgotten as he crouched beside his sister. The-Princess sank to the floor, Prince-Ben clutched to her chest, her white nightgown splattered with bright red. Captain-Solo charged into the room, silently taking in the scene before him. He shoved R2 out of the way before lifting his wife and son off the floor in one swift motion, cradling her against his chest as he carried them out of the-Falcon.

Wet red was shining on the deck-plating still. Master-Luke grabbed at a cloth that was hanging from the kitchen-unit, scrubbing at the wet puddle, smearing it ineffectually. Master-Luke lowered his head, shoulders shuddering with silent tears. R2 hummed sadly. Master-Luke lifted his gaze to meet the droid's:

“I didn't even know,” he confessed. “Months and months of nightmares, how did we not know?” he asked R2. R2 wished that he would have stayed with Prince-Ben all night long each night, that he could have observed the nightmares and done something, told 3PO if no one else.

Chewie was in the room suddenly, roaring a question.

“Did you know Leia was pregnant?” Luke asked.

The Wookie growled a sad negative.

“She was pregnant,” Luke repeated, staring at the blood that was now on his hands. “Force be with her, it wasn't bad enough that they tried to take Ben, they took her other child from her instead.” ~~C-~~ 3PO shuffled into the room.

“Where is Captain-Solo taking the-Princess and Prince-Ben?” the protocol droid inquired. No one had the heart to reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made some slight edits to Ben's dialogue, which suddenly sounded too advanced for a child his age.

**Author's Note:**

> R2 is awesome and has so many [tricks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLmOteqmDYc) up his figurative sleeve. I'm sorry if the technobabble makes this difficult to read: i'm using [The Comprehensive Guide to Building a Realistic R2-D2 Replica](https://makezine.com/projects/building-your-first-r2/) and [Wookiepedia's Artoo Blueprints](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:ArtooBlueprints-SWBTUC.jpg) as references.


End file.
